In late 03, my wife and I had purchased a black Honda Element EX AWD with 5MT. The car seemed great, and the 5-speed manual put the 4-speed auto to shame. I was quite happy with the purchase other than the fact that I received an aftermarket alarm system with the car. That is until the car started falling apart.
I had been pretty well prepared for my fair share of issues considering it was an early model year for the vehicle. It usually takes some time to get the bugs worked out. Well boy was I wrong...
Thus far, the following parts have been replaced:
- Turn signal switch (wouldn't turn off blinker)
- Drivers Side window regulator (auto-up would jam and roll back down)
- Drivers Side window switch (same)
- Clutch Master Cylinder (pedal would squeak so replaced under TSB)
- Clutch Master Cylinder (yes twice cause dealer F'ed up the first install)
- 3rd Gear & Synchro set (Dealer's 1st bad Master Cylinder install ate up 3rd gear)
- Clutch/Transmission housing (dealer broke it somehow while replacing 3rd)
- Map Sensor and Throttle body (no idea what happened)
- VTEC Pressure Switch (no idea what happened)
- VTEC Solenoid (no idea what happened)
- VTEC Spool Valve (no idea what happened)
- Drivers Side window regulator (yes twice cause the window fell in)
Since then, I noticed the driver's side auto-up is starting to jam AGAIN and the window will roll itself back down when used! Then the other day we were driving on the freeway when my wife tried to roll up her window. BANG!!! The passenger's side door glass just dropped right into the door.
WTF is wrong with these cheap ass window regulators?!?!?!? I don't understand. In fact, the second time I took the car in after the driver's side fell in, there was another Element owner waiting at the service desk with same problem. Is this really so hard?
Now that I'm at 80k miles, the dealer won't help me. They offered to pay labor to replace the regulators, but they wanted their full retail of $300 for both left and right parts. Even after I showed them multiple adds from online dealer stores that say ~$90 for drivers side and ~$65 for passenger's side, but they wouldn't budge. I told them to stuff it, and I ordered the passenger's side from DCH Honda in CA ($74 shipped). I can replace this easily, but it still pisses me off. The drivers side is still messed up and they had replaced it just over a year ago.
I personally love Hondas. I own 4 right now (89 CRX Si, 94 Civic CX & 05 TL Sport). I have an 89 CRX Si with 210k miles that I can still drive to work every day and not worry about this BS. I think this car is gonna have to go...
I had been pretty well prepared for my fair share of issues considering it was an early model year for the vehicle. It usually takes some time to get the bugs worked out. Well boy was I wrong...
Thus far, the following parts have been replaced:
- Turn signal switch (wouldn't turn off blinker)
- Drivers Side window regulator (auto-up would jam and roll back down)
- Drivers Side window switch (same)
- Clutch Master Cylinder (pedal would squeak so replaced under TSB)
- Clutch Master Cylinder (yes twice cause dealer F'ed up the first install)
- 3rd Gear & Synchro set (Dealer's 1st bad Master Cylinder install ate up 3rd gear)
- Clutch/Transmission housing (dealer broke it somehow while replacing 3rd)
- Map Sensor and Throttle body (no idea what happened)
- VTEC Pressure Switch (no idea what happened)
- VTEC Solenoid (no idea what happened)
- VTEC Spool Valve (no idea what happened)
- Drivers Side window regulator (yes twice cause the window fell in)
Since then, I noticed the driver's side auto-up is starting to jam AGAIN and the window will roll itself back down when used! Then the other day we were driving on the freeway when my wife tried to roll up her window. BANG!!! The passenger's side door glass just dropped right into the door.
WTF is wrong with these cheap ass window regulators?!?!?!? I don't understand. In fact, the second time I took the car in after the driver's side fell in, there was another Element owner waiting at the service desk with same problem. Is this really so hard?
Now that I'm at 80k miles, the dealer won't help me. They offered to pay labor to replace the regulators, but they wanted their full retail of $300 for both left and right parts. Even after I showed them multiple adds from online dealer stores that say ~$90 for drivers side and ~$65 for passenger's side, but they wouldn't budge. I told them to stuff it, and I ordered the passenger's side from DCH Honda in CA ($74 shipped). I can replace this easily, but it still pisses me off. The drivers side is still messed up and they had replaced it just over a year ago.
I personally love Hondas. I own 4 right now (89 CRX Si, 94 Civic CX & 05 TL Sport). I have an 89 CRX Si with 210k miles that I can still drive to work every day and not worry about this BS. I think this car is gonna have to go...